With apparent speed increase of Internet bandwidth, a transition from conventional set top boxes to Internet set top boxes is quick. Various media sources can be widely broadcasted via various channels. Users can select the conventional set top boxes to watch live programs having fine real time, and can also watch wonderful blockbuster movies via a high speed bandwidth Internet, and can also select high definition digital versatile discs (DVDs) to watch high definition programs. Generally, a living room of a family has various playing devices, for example, a digital video broadcasting (DVB) playing device, an over the top (OTT) playing device, a video compact disc (VCD) playing device, a DVD playing device, and so on.
When the above various playing devices are connected to a display terminal of a user, various data connection lines are needed to perform connection. For example, when high definition multimedia interface (HDMI) data transmission lines are used to transmit multimedia contents, to ensure that the user can select to watch multimedia contents provided by a playing device in real time, presently, in a frequently used method, all of the playing devices are opened, and are connected to a display terminal via HDMI output lines. When the display terminal outputs and displays the multimedia contents, all of the playing devices are in a working state. The above playing control method consumes a great deal of power.